Energy Donation

One character willingly gives some of their Ki, Life Energy, Mana, etc. to another. The donor may be doing this to recharge them when they're exhausted or dying, or to increase their power beyond its limits for some great challenge. Frequently receiving extra energy has the side effect of healing the recipient's wounds, or at least making them easier to ignore.

When the donor gives the recipient a different kind of energy to what they normally use, things get interesting. They could unlock greater powers from the mixed energies, be transformed into a being similar to the donor, or just die/go mad from the spiritual conflict. Infusing an evil character with good energy increases their odds of turning good, though the reverse is more likely to create a Superpowered Evil Side instead.

This ability is often something that all superpowered beings in a work are capable of, though it may require training to do properly.

This is the opposite of Mana Drain and Energy Absorption. It is the Super-Trope to Bequeathed Power and Combined Energy Attack. Compare Diverting Power for "donating" your power's allocation into one part of the system. Compare "With Our Swords" Scene, Cast from Hit Points, Healing Hands, Liquid Assets and Super-Empowering, which may overlap. Contrast with Empathic Healer, which is exclusively physical and functions in the opposite manner. A Mana Potion is an item which has this effect. Not to be confused with Going to Give It More Energy where you overwhelm your target with energy transfer instead of helping it.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Bleach
  • Soul Reapers can transfer some of their energy to another person to give them shinigami powers or restore lost ones. The series starts with Rukia trying to give some of her power to Ichigo in an emergency, but accidentally giving him almost all of it (despite Ichigo actually having more dormant power than she ever did).
  • In the Fullbring arc, Ginjo Kugo steals Ichigo's Fullbring and amalgamates it with his own, sharing it among the other Fullbringers.
  • In the anime version, Renji gives up some of his spiritual energy to heal a child who's been drained of his own.
• Digimon
  • In one of the movies the hope and strength of the children around the world (conveyed via instant message boxes, long story) allow the severly wounded Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon to merge into Omnimon.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Occurs a few times in Dragon Ball Z. Goku's Combined Energy Attack, the Spirit Bomb, is the most notable example; at one point Goku even transfers the entire attack's energy to Krillin when he's too injured to throw it himself.
  • After beating Frieza, Goku gives him enough energy to get off the exploding planet the battle took place on. Frieza tried to use it to attack Goku one last time despite being reduced to an upper torso with a single arm, at which point Goku called him a fool and blasted him right back, nearly killing him for good.
  • Dragon Ball GT features Goku's Super Saiyan allies (and Pan) restoring him to full strength by standing around him for a few minutes and letting him absorb the energy released by their Battle Auras. A near-identical process was used in Dragon Ball Super (and its predecessor Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods), to grant Goku access to the Super Saiyan God transformation.
• In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, mages can transfer Mana between each other and their Devices with the Divide Energy spell.
• In Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, Aura Guardians have this ability in conjunction with the Tree of Beginning. When used, however, it becomes a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Street Fighter II V: In their showdown with Bison, Ryu gives Ken a portion of his ki, allowing him to stand long enough to launch one last attack before collapsing.
• In World Trigger, an agent can establish a temporary linkage to channel their Trion into someone else's Trigger as long as physical contact is sustained. When Chika allowed Osamu to borrow her Trion during the Large Scale Invasion arc, he was able to fire a gigantic Asteroid cube that shredded a heavily armored Rabbit to pieces in a single volley. The drawback is that it later caused Osamu's Trigger equipments to malfunction; which was largely due to Chika’s Trion being way too powerful for Osamu to handle.

Comic Books

• Cloak and Dagger: Cloak and Dagger do this all the time. Cloak has darkness powers that he has to feed with energy in order to survive. Dagger produces daggers of light and has to periodically emit them to keep from losing control. They have a symbiotic relationship with Dagger feeding Cloak her excess energy.
• ''Fantastic Four:
  • Galactus gives his Heralds a minuscule portion of his life energy in order for them to be able to traverse space to find planets for him to eat. Silver Surfer is the first of the heralds.
  • In Secret Wars (1984), Doctor Doom wrests the godlike powers away from the Beyonder, then gives Earth's heroes an ultimatum: leave Doom alone, and Doom will leave the heroes alone. Interfere with Doom, and Doom will eradicate the heroes in one fell swoop. Deciding that Doom cannot be trusted, the heroes launch an assault on the Tower of Doom. Doom, not wanting to loose tremendous power that he so recently acquired, donates some to The Dragon Klaw. Klaw is sent to thwart the heroes while Doom attempts to steady his thoughts and keep his awesome power bottled.

Fan Works

• Daily Equestria Life with Monster Girl: Ambassador Torque Power possesses a form of minotaur magic that lets him lend another person the bulk of his physical strength, granting them a short burst of enhanced strength and energy while leaving him debilitated. It's unclear if all minotaurs can do this, or if it's a particular talent of the ambassador's.
• In the Star Wars fic Important Information, Han Solo is captured and brutally tortured. By the time Luke, Leia and Chewbacca arrive to rescue him, he's near death, and Luke lends Han his energy through the Force to try and keep him alive until they can get him to safety and medical help. It helps, though he still briefly dies in Leia's arms in the process.
• Another Star Wars fic The Princess and the Pirate has Leia giving Han a Force energy jolt to give him strength to keep moving as they try to get to safety after he's been badly beaten.
• TRON universe Fanon plays around with this trope frequently, stepping it up from what we see in the films. Energy transfers are treated as a form of intimacy, anywhere from a small pulse to comfort a friend to full-blown sexual melds. And yes, these melds can be forced and used as a form of torture.

Films — Live-Action

• Godzilla:
  • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II: In the Final Battle, both Godzilla and Fire Rodan are critically injured by Super Mechagodzilla. With his last breath, Rodan grants his atomic energy to Godzilla, not only restoring him back to full strength, but greatly empowering him. This upgrades Godzilla's atomic breath into the even stronger "red spiral ray" that is able to obliterate Mechagodzilla.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): In the Final Battle, both Godzilla and Mothra are critically injured in the fight against King Ghidorah. With what little remaining strength she has, Mothra lunges at Ghidorah, who vaporizes her with his Gravity Beams. Mothra's life energy rains down on Godzilla's body, which activates a superheated burning form that utterly annihilates Ghidorah.
• TRON:
  • In the first film, Master Control keeps Sark's loyalty by feeding him large amounts of power, and threatens him frequently with cutting him off. Master Control also, in desperation, feeds a huge amount of power to Sark's nonfunctional chassis to make him grow to a massive size. The novelization implies that a dying Ram gave up what little energy he had left to Flynn. Later, Flynn transfers a large pulse of energy to a dying Yori to bring her back.
  • The Alternate Continuity TRON 2.0 : Killer App uses energy as currency, which also means Cast from Hit Points.

Literature

• The Black Magician Trilogy: Mages can voluntarily transfer Mana between themselves, or use Black Magic to claim it by force. In the climax, Sonea defeats an enemy Black Mage in a high-powered Wizard Duel thanks to Akkarin giving her his Life Energy as well as his magic.
• At one point in Mercedes Lackey's Elizabethan series, Rhoslyn has returned Underhill (translation: to the elven realms) because she's drained herself working in the mortal world. Her mother transfers energy from herself into Rhoslyn to restore her.
• The Familiar of Zero: A familiar with the Lifdrasir runes can transfer their energy to their Master to power up their spells. Unfortunately, each transfer is a Cast from Lifespan, so the familiar gets closer to death each time.
• Immortal Guardians: In the climax of Death of Darkness, Seth, Zach, and David power up for their final showdown by draining energy from several of the still neutral Others, some of whom volunteer their energy stores, some who do not. This literally makes Seth so powerful that he glows and allows him to exceed the normal limits of his already extremely powerful abilities. Later, when David is struck with what should be a fatal wound, his excess donated energy immediately heals the wound and allows him to keep fighting. Seth finishes off Gershom by draining Gershom's energy stores to the point that Gershom can no longer use his powers to fight.
• This is done frequently in the Inheritance Cycle, as the link between a person and a dragon allows for free transfer of energy between the two. This is often used to cast spells more powerful than the person could handle, or to give someone more energy when they become exhausted.
• Joel Suzuki: In Legend of the Loudstone, when Joel is low on Aura during his fight with Marshall, Auravine lends him some of hers.
• The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk: The Invisibles perform Weather Manipulation on a continent-wide scale by funneling all their power into a single elected Voice, who directs and shapes the magic.
• In Mercedes Lackey works:
  • Heralds of Valdemar: Both magic users and Gifted individuals can link up, pooling their Life Energy to either accomplish something beyond the strength of one person or just to lighten the load. Blood Magic (when performed by voluntary sacrifice) also qualifies. Companions, being permanently linked to their Heralds, can also provide an energy boost as needed.
  • Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms: Individuals with a lot of magic gathered around them (usually because the Tradition is trying to steer them around) can voluntarily donate that magic to a Godmother, white witch, etc. Evil Sorceresses and the like don't bother with consent; they just take it.
• In Log Horizon, protagonist Shiroe is an Enchanter, a class focused exclusively on support, and his playstyle makes heavy use of abilities which reallocate Mana between party members as needed.
• The Raven Tower: The god Oissen coordinates the Divine Conflict against the Raven's forces by forming contracts with his allied gods to allow him to draw on their power. The Strength and Patience of the Hill doesn't trust Oissen, and sure enough, he's been exploiting a loophole in the contracts to drain the gods to death.
• In The Salvation War, angelic choirs work by synchronizing their minds with music in order to donate energy to one leader, who uses it to work magic. Not that they know that's how it works...
• The Scholomance: Wizards can transfer their mana to each other voluntarily; enclavers use handheld "power sharers" to pool and distribute their spare mana. When Orion thinks El is having a Heroic RRoD, he gives her a solid year's worth without warning, forcing her to burn off the excess with some quick magic.
• So, I Can't Play H!: Ryosuke's contract with Lisara depends on it. Since he derives his power from eroticism, he constantly fantasizes about sexual acts and euphemisms, so he can readily transfer large quantities of his power to Lisara, when her flame magic begins to run out.
• Star Wars Expanded Universe elaborates that one Force user can lend energy to another Force user to increase the recipient's strength and stamina in battle or help keep them alive longer when badly injured.
• This is the basis of Awakening in Warbreaker. Everyone on Nalthis is born with a single Breath (a fragment of the soul that can be separated from the rest), and Breaths are routinely bought and sold. Holding a large number of Breaths prolongs life, grants an increased ability to perceive sound and color, and offers other passive benefits, plus Breath can be used to Awaken inanimate objects.

Live-Action TV

• A healing device first featured in the Babylon 5 episode "The Quality of Mercy" (and returns in both "Revelations" and "Endgame") works this way. Its original purpose was as an execution device, transferring the life-force of the condemned to heal injuries and illnesses.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: At the end of "Same Time, Same Place", an injured Willow is meditating in order to heal herself but is too weak to complete the spell. Buffy offers her Slayer strength to Willow and meditates with her, restoring both Willow's body and their friendship.
• Doctor Who:
  • In "Let's Kill Hitler", River Song transmits her regeneration energy into the Doctor to stop him from dying.
  • In "The Angels Take Manhattan", the Doctor uses some of his regeneration energy to heal River Song's broken wrist. She complains at his waste of energy.
• Tracker (2001): Cole essentially does this to Mel in the pilot, reviving her with a burst of energy after she's zapped by Zin. There's a reversal much later in the series, after it's discovered that Mel is a hybrid. She powered up Cole to restore his powers after one of Zin's Mooks hit him with a laser and rendered him unable to use his alien powers.
• Ultraman Ace sees Yapool capture Ultraman, Seven, Zoffy, and Jack to give their powers to his Ace Killer. The Ultra Brothers manage to turn the tide by giving what energy they can still offer to Ace, allowing him to use the mighty Space Q.
  • This gets a Call-Back in Ultraman Z, when Barabas has Z on the ropes. Ace arrives and, after a fierce battle, gives some of his power to Z, allowing Z to finish off the Terrible Monster with the Space Z.

Tabletop Games

• In Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, the psionic power Bestow Power transfers PP from one character to another, though some are lost in the process. Empathic Transfer does the same thing for Hit Points.
• In Exalted, the Solar Exalted (and their twisted demonic offshoots the Green Sun Princes) have charms that allow essence donation. The Twilight and Defiler Castes specialize in these charms.
• In Nomine. Celestial beings use Essence as a power source, to accomplish everything from fueling Songs to temporarily increasing their skills. They can freely give Essence to each other, and often use it as a form of currency.
• Metamorphosis Alpha, Dragon magazine #6 article "An Alternate Beginning Sequence For Metamorphosis: Alpha". One of the new mutations was Resurrection Talent, which allowed the mutant to bring a dead character back to life by giving them some of the mutant's Hit Points. The mutant could heal back the lost hit points normally.
• Shadowrun supplement The Grimoire. Metahumans receive Good Karma (a form of Experience Points) and can donate it to free spirits. The spirits turn the Good Karma into Spirit Energy and use it to increase their Force, so they accept it as a form of payment.

Toys

• BIONICLE: The Toa Metru encounter an injured Graalok Ash Bear on their way back to Metru Nui. They donate a portion of their energy to heal the Rahi before continuing on.

Video Games

• The "Bequeath" ability in the little-known browser RPG Ankhet sends a player of one's choice a small amount of "anima", the metaphysical energy that fuels one's actions in the game world.
• In Breath of Fire III and IV, the Transfer skill transfers MP from one character to another. Oddly, it's possible to reduce the MP cost of this skill to zero, effectively turning it into mana from nowhere.
• Elsword: Tactical Trooper (one of Chung's classes)' skill Tactical Field is an Area of Effect skill that gives MP to himself and allies over its radius, as well as giving them increased defense.
• EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce: Happens twice in the late game. First during the initial ground assault on the Dark Force mothership, after Dark Force freezes the heroes in place with a crushing gravity attack. Emerald lends her enormous magical energy to the Dream Demon King Maerd so that he can teleport the rest of the heroes back to safety, leaving herself in enemy clutches. Then again during the final attack on the Dark Force mothership, to rescue Emerald and defeat Dark Force. It takes the combined powers of all the wizards of Ispales, the Hikari Warriors and the surviving mystics of the Kinreikan to equal Emerald's power and allow Maerd to teleport the party to the mothership's relocated position in orbit.
• Final Fantasy series:
  • The Sacrifice/Transfusion/Pep Up ability allows the user to sacrifice all of their health and MP to give to another party member.
  • In Final Fantasy X a character can transfer their Overdrive bar to another character with a specific ability, and Yuna's Overdrive consists of summoning an Aeon with an already filled Overdrive bar.
• In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, Nils and Ninian could transfer their energy to each other. This is why when you gain control of them, they share the same stats; neither of them are playable at the same time, so they just transfer their energy to each other each time they switch. Note that in the endgame if you get Ninian back, she would have her base stats rather than her current stats; Nils could not transfer her energy to her, and so all of the experience she gained is gone. (This is only visible in multiplayer, for what it's worth.)
• Near the beginning of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Tyrell is rendered unconscious by a Psyenergy Vortex draining all his energy, and has to be revived by the other characters transferring some of theirs to him.
• Goofy in Kingdom Hearts can learn MP Gift to restore a fellow party member's MP using his own. Given that he's a Magically Inept Fighter and gives out three times the MP he spends, this is just about the best way he can use it.
• The Shepherd from Nexus Clash has this as one of their core abilities. Combined with their ability to pray for more magic and some metagame coordination, the otherwise squishy Shepherd can act a massive MP battery for any magical ability in the game.
• The eponymous Super Metroid displays the ability to transfer energy it has absorbed to Samus in order to heal her.
• Some Shin Megami Tensei games have the Makatora spell, which gives a fixed amount of MP to one ally. The cost is typically the same as the amount given.
• Earlier games in the Tales Series gave white mages the Charge spell, which gives some of their TP to an ally. With a bit of planning, Tear Grants can upgrade it to Tribute and empower the rest of the party all at once. Whether either is worth the time they take to cast is debatable.
• Warcraft III: The Siphon Mana ability drains mana from enemies, but can be used to give it to an ally. The Spirit Touch is a much slower multi-unit spell.

Visual Novels

• In Fate/stay night, transferring power from one person to another becomes important in all three routes. Usually this takes the form of magical energy or "mana", but can also involve things like the transfer of command seals or a mage's family crest. In the original eroge version of the visual novel, this is most effectively accomplished through a ritual involving sexual intercourse, but the adaptations replace actual sex with various sexual metaphors.
  • In the Fate route, Saber's improper summoning means that she does not automatically draw on her masters' mana like a servant is supposed to. Since servants consume magical energy to fight and even just to exist, Rin has to devise a way for Shirou to give his magical energy to Saber before she fades away.
  • In Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou unlocks a powerful combat ability but has neither the magic circuits nor mana reserves to keep it up against Gilgamesh. Therefore, Rin has to transfer some of her capacity to him before the big showdown.
  • In Heaven's Feel, Sakura has a parasite called a crest worm in her body that drains her energy, seriously threatening her health and causing her to intensely hunger for a source of mana. Shirou voluntarily lets her feed off his energy, appreciating the chance to get closer to her, although he feels increasingly drained after each session. The Epilogue of the Good End reverses this dynamic, since Sakura has begun producing a surplus of energy and has to transfer it to Shirou in order to keep in balance.

Webcomics

• In the first arc of The Dragon Doctors Goro's strength was drained (and their gender changed) making her much weaker than he had been. Eventually she became so weak as to require a strength donation.
• In Middleways Joshua has the power of manipulating Amrit, the Life Energy that everyone in Middleways needs. Energy donation is one of the applications of that power — he once saved the life of a patrolmate by donating some to him after the guy got hit with an amrit-draining empty zergball.
• Sleepless Domain: While her magical girl teammates all have more specific Elemental Powers, Tessa Quinn has the ability to manipulate magical energy itself. As part of the First-Episode Twist that leaves all but one of her teammates dead, Tessa manages to channel enough of her own energy into the survivor to save her life, at the expense of permanently burning out Tessa's own power in the process.

Western Animation

• Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: One of the "last resort" tactics the team uses is channeling their energy and badge charge through Niko's psionic abilities to create a heavy-duty shield or massive psionic blast. This usually drains the badges and incapacitates Niko afterward, but it does work.
• An episode of Jackie Chan Adventures features the cast fighting a Chinese Vampire who drains the chi from one character after another, which leaves them comatose and will eventually turn them into his undead minions. As a stopgap measure Uncle transfuses the victim with chi from another person, which has the side effect of giving the recipient some of their personality traits.
• Filmation's The New Adventures of Superman has the episode "The Pernicious Parasite" in which an industrial burglar develops the ability to absorb the life force of anyone he contacts. His victims wither and age rapidly. At first, Superman is stymied how to defeat this villain without increasing his power. Ultimately, Superman gets his adversary in a clench, transferring oodles of his super strength into his foe. It's more than a human body can safely store, and the villain slowly dissolves into a waning sunburst.
• Static Shock: When Static and Green Lantern John Stewart face off against Sinestro, Static is able to charge Stewart's power ring with his own electricity. Stewart observes, "It's different, but it works."
• In X-Men: The Animated Series, after Jean Grey is purged of the Dark Phoenix, the team is told that one of them must give up their own life in order for her to live. Instead they Take a Third Option by having everyone donate a portion of the Life Energy required.

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